Toy Lending Library of South Dakota director Anelis Coscioni
© Greg Woods
4-year-old Ella Hinrichs at play; Kayla Hinrichs interacts with her daughter at the library
© Beth Jensen
The joys of toys
The Toy Lending Library of South Dakota is making every day feel like Christmas for local children. The library (toylendinglibrarysd.org), which was co-founded in 2015 by director Anelis Coscioni, creates opportunities for children up to 5 years of age to enhance their learning development through play. To do that, the nonprofit boxes one or more donated toys and a book, and circulates them free of charge from 14 locations.
“Our vision is to expand to 100 locations in the state,” says Coscioni, who explains that they check all donated items for recalls and sanitize each item the library lends out. It currently has more than 900 toy boxes in circulation. Coscioni notes, “Since the start of the organization in 2015, our toy boxes have been borrowed or renewed more than 16,000 times.”—Dan Jones
Growing up
Toy libraries have become a growing trend as parents realize the convenience, sustainability, cost savings and benefits of borrowing toys rather than purchasing them.
There are about 400 toy lending libraries in the United States, according to the USA Toy Library Association. Visit usatla.org to find a toy library closest to you.—DJ
